


Once upon a time in a cold winter

by Maidenfromthevalley



Category: Anastasia - Flaherty/Ahrens/McNally
Genre: And a backstory, Canon Era, F/M, Gen, Gleb is a human, Not a robot, and moments of weakness, so i gave him feelings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-19 01:26:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29742870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maidenfromthevalley/pseuds/Maidenfromthevalley
Summary: This is my first work in this fandom! It's a continuing story but I don't have a regular posting schedule, sorry. Also, English is not my native language, so forgive my spelling mistakes if I do some.
Relationships: Dimitri | Dmitry/Anya | Anastasia Romanov (Anastasia 1997 & Broadway)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first work in this fandom! It's a continuing story but I don't have a regular posting schedule, sorry. Also, English is not my native language, so forgive my spelling mistakes if I do some.

Gleb Vaganov didn’t like being outside in the winter. But there he was, patrolling in the icy wind and his fingers frozen, the gloves didn’t help at all. He was sure that he would get some illness again, as he got every single winter because his immune system had been weakened by the measles that he had had as a little boy, he still had scars because of the spots that the measles had caused. 

Gleb gave a little speech to cheer people up and noticed again a young man who was (again) imitating his hand gestures and mocking him. Gleb sighed, he had tried to arrest that boy but he was too quick and always managed to go into hiding before Gleb had even finished his speech. But again Gleb chased after him, even though he perfectly knew that it would be in vain - and he was correct, the young man had vanished somewhere as quickly as a needle into a haystack. Gleb shook his head, he had thought before that the NKVD had destroyed the underworld completely but apparently that wasn’t a case, there seemed to be still a few that had managed to avoid the soldiers, for example that boy. Gleb didn’t know his name but he had heard that that boy was very famous and well-known among the criminals. 

Gleb szeened and shivered. He heard the bell toll and decided that it had been enough patrolling for the day and started to walk towards the building where his office was. He really wanted his own office and a telephone, he wasn’t particulary a social person and he didn’t like to share an office with others like he had to do now. He was waiting for a promotion, he had had enough patrolling and he didn’t like to fill out new reports, he wanted to do something more interesting, more exciting, he hadn’t signed up for this boring job when he had given his oath of loyalty. He was after all part of the secret police, he wanted to go on an adventure and chase after dangerous criminals. Gleb straightened his back, he didn’t want to look lazy, being lazy would not be wise if some other soldiers could see him.

There were three women waiting outside the building when Gleb arrived there. He sighed, he was sure that these women had something to tell him. And he was right, accompanyed by these three he entered his office and sat behind his table to fill a new file. Then the three women told him a bizarre story about the two conmen who were holding auditions, hoping to find a woman who looked like the dead princess Anastasia Nikolajevna and that today they had found a street sweeper who actually really looked like her. Gleb wrote down all what the women said and then ordered the women to run away from his office. But the women stayed, asking why he isn’t going to arrest those men and that woman. Gleb didn’t answer, instead he rose up and again commanded the women to disappear. This time they obeyed and Gleb shouted to others to fill out a new report. He was really tired and he still felt the cold and he szeened again but luckily the women were already gone. 

Gleb were in his office till the clock stroke 6 times. Then he wrote a report to his chief, closed the office and went home.

Gleb lived alone in the block of flats where he had a one room apartment. The building was located near his office, he wanted to have a short way to work.

At home he immediately drank a glass of hot water with honey, the habit that he had learned from his mother. He watched out of the window and noticed that it was snowing. He watched the snow fall and he thought that it was all very beautiful. But cold. The street sweepers had very much work to do tomorrow. Gleb paused and remembered that streep sweeper girl that the women had mentioned. Anya was her name, right? But he didn’t want to think about her now, he wanted to have a cozy, nice evening. 

He was awake even then when the day changed. He had tried to sleep but something had kept him awake and finally he had gave up and started to read. He felt the icy night wind and sometimes he could hear other inhabitants because the walls were thin as paper. He was lucky because he could live alone, so many others had to share their rooms with dozens of strangers. But perhaps he was able to live alone because the building was so new that people hadn’t discovered it yet and so there were now just few familys and he.

Gleb szeened. It really seemed so that he had gotten a flu. He hoped that it would soon go away, he didn’t want to szeene in front of the others, especially because there was going to be a parade in one week’s time. Gleb wrapped the blanket tighter around him and put the book away. He looked around and suddenly he started to miss his parents. He didn’t want to be so sensitive, he hadn’t asked for it. But he was after all a human and all alone in the big world. But, he reminded himself, he was also an adult and a soldier, he didn’t have time to be sensitive. Right? Of course right. But still...Still. Gleb felt tears rolling down his cheeks and he angrily shook his head. He was the soldier! He had to make his father proud! But he was there just to make his father proud and finish the job...

Gleb started to feel tired, it had been a long day as always. He yawned and blinked his eyes. He wanted to sleep and to forget his thoughts, it wasn’t a right time for them. And finally he was allowed to sleep and a warm, wonderful dream gave him a moment of a wanted peace.


	2. Chapter 2

Gleb woke up suddenly. The scream still echoed in the air. The scream? Gleb buried his head in his hands. It appeared that he had screamed again. It happened every night, the scream woke him and the ghosts danced in his head, making him feel sick and dizzy every single time. The ghosts of the Romanovs. They haunted him, he kept going back to that fateful night. And again he had heard the guns, the screams. And then...the silence. That night had changed his world. The fairies had disappeared, the animals hadn’t talk to him anymore, after that night the nearby forest had been just an ordinary forest without any kind of specialities, without grand adventures in the imaginary world. Just the monsters had remained, the monsters that horrified him and kept creeping into his mind. The monsters with the ghosts.

The dream had quickly became a nightmare. Gleb had heard the children singing and seen them dancing and playing in the yard. But then their faces had distorted, the screams had filled the air and the men with pistols had arrived. Then there had been just silence and smoke. So much smoke that Gleb never managed to see through it. And then he had woken up, screaming himself. 

Gleb shook his head. He didn’t know what time it was but it was still dark. He shivered, the walls were so thin that even the tiniest wind always managed to go through them. He heard someone snore and it made him feel a little bit better, it always helped when he remembered that there were also other people, that he wasn’t alone.

Gleb tried to sleep again but soon found it impossible. He lightened his desk lamp and picked a book to read. 

He had been long time awake when the clock stroke five. Gleb started to make breakfast but suddenly there was a knock on the door. Gleb froze at first but then went to open it. Gleb’s eyes widened from fear and he started to walk backwards away from the door. One of the most terrifying monsters that he was able to imagine, approached him. It was tall, it didn’t have ears or eyes but it had a huge mouth that it kept open. But the most terrifying thing was that it remained silent. It didn’t roar or even whisper. It didn’t have a voice. Since that night Gleb had feared silence. Soon Gleb was stopped by the wall and he covered his head with his hand, even though he knew very well that it was useless. The monster grapped his arms and Gleb fell to the floor, holding his breath. 

But he didn’t feel the monster’s mouth against his shoulder, instead someone shook his arms and called his name, worry in his voice. Gleb opened his eyes that he had unknowingly shut. And he was back in his room again and his best friend, Mikhail, called him. Gleb sighed of relief and wanted to cry, so relieved he was. He stood up but he shook from head to toe. Mikhail hold him so that he didn’t fall again and finally hugged him. And Gleb was ashamed as never before, he felt his cheeks burn and he quickly detached himself from the friend’s embrace and turned his back to Mikhail. 

A little later they were sitting around the table drinking tea. Gleb was silent, he still felt the shame and couldn’t speak. Mikhail was the best friend that he had ever had, Mikhail didn’t ask any questions and didn’t force him to speak, he just sat with him and allowed him to recover. Gleb still heard the echoes of the screams in his head and suddenly he stood up and started to put his uniform on. He put his cap on and then was ready to start his day, the air had become so thick that Gleb wanted to breath fresh air, he also wanted to see other people, his room was too quiet, too scary for him. When he was outside, he could feel that he was free, free from the ghosts and monsters. Even though he couldn’t stand being outside in the cold winter, it was still better than this silence that always became even deeper as the seconds passed. Mikhail rushed to his side and he had to run so that he could stay by his side. 

When Gleb was outside, he immediately stopped and just stood in the snow, eyes closed. The ghosts went back to their graves and he was able to breath freely again. That always worked, when he just stood and breathed the fresh air.  
He didn’t have to stood long, he soon felt better and continued to walk with Mikhail. The old woman next door greeted them, and it always made Gleb happy because too often he had seen how people feared him and Mikhail because of their uniforms and Gleb always tried to prove them that he wasn’t actually so scary. That woman had believed him (even though she had also feared him at first when he had moved in) and Gleb now had someone who greeted him every morning on his way to work and also sometimes even came to visit him when he was at home. Gleb had a very nice family here, he liked to imagine that Mikhail was his brother now (Gleb was the only child so the idea about a sibling warmed and fascinated him) and that old woman (what was her name again? Vera? Gleb was really bad at remembering names) his mother. He liked to imagine that his mother Natalia had travelled with him to Leningrad and stayed with him after all. Gleb never talked about about these thoughts to others, he knew very well that they would just laugh and call him ”baby” and Gleb would then be ashamed his whole life.

And then Gleb was once again standing in the cold, icy wind, fingers frozen. He tried to think of something, just to keep his thoughts away from the cold. He looked around and saw that street sweeper girl again. The girl didn’t look at him, she wanted to keep her job and Gleb understood that perfectly. Gleb blushed slightly as he remembered how he had last time shouted to her that he would be there every day. Had it really been necessary? But it was the only thought that had came to his mind at that moment and he had shouted it before he had finished the thought. Gleb shrugged his shoulders, he had done it and there was no point of regret it because he couldn’t correct it anyway. Now he was careful not to approach the girl, he didn’t want to frighten her. He hadn’t meant to frighten her last time at all, he had just wanted to help her. But it was his uniform that gave the bad impression and Gleb understood it. He knew too well the crimes that the secret police had done and the horror it caused in people and he sighed. He wanted to correct it, he wanted that the secret police would really be ”police” first and not the destroyer. Gleb really wanted that raise because then he could decide himself what they would do to criminals, to real criminals, not to honest citizens. It made him always sick when his superior Gorlinsky used the death penalty almost always. Gorlinsky had been in the Cheka since its establishment and had been furious when it had been abolished and changed to OGPU that didn’t have the power to just shoot people but they had to judge them first. But there was always the 10th article that gave them the right to immediately kill if it was necessary and it satisfied Gorlinsky. Gleb shook his head and then noticed that boy again. He had now seen him almost every day and now he also knew what that boy did for a living. That boy really annoyed Gleb, he saw that the boy wasn’t bad at nature, he thought that he had been jus misled. Gleb thought that with a little bit of right guidance he could change. He didn’t actually knew what that boy wanted. He had heard him speaking ill of the Romanovs but at the same time he mimicked Gleb’s hand gestures and mocked him. For example now Gleb saw how the boy thumbed his nose and grinned at him and then ran away. Gleb chased again after him to create an illusion but the fact was that he was so tired that he always let him go. And again he let him go, returned to his place and was soon lost in his thoughts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2 is done! I apologize if you find some spelling mistakes, English is not my first language. I hope that you enjoy my writing anyway!


End file.
